


The First Christmas Health Fair In New Orleans, And All Through The Clinic...

by afteriwake



Series: Stuff Of Improbable Legends [12]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Best Friends, Bones Dresses As Santa, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, Community Celebration, Drinking & Talking, EVERYTHING GOES WRONG, First Christmas, Gen, Health Fair, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation, Male-Female Friendship, Mentioned Clara Oswald, Mentioned Original Pink-Oswald Child(ren), New Orleans, POV Molly Hooper, Pre-Molly Hooper/Leonard "Bones" McCoy, Relaxing, Roleplay, Roleplay Logs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-22 05:36:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,282
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17054156
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afteriwake/pseuds/afteriwake
Summary: The day that the holiday health fair is supposed to be going on at the clinic, it seems that nothing is going to go right. But in the end, she and Leonard get through it and celebrate with a shared drink.





	The First Christmas Health Fair In New Orleans, And All Through The Clinic...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [sideofrawr](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sideofrawr/gifts).



> So ages ago, **sideofrawr** gave me the sentence “ _You shouldn’t be trusted with small children, should you?_ ” for one of the fics in our RP series. I decided to use it for a fic about the first Christmas they had in New Orleans as an answer to the " _crossover_ " prompt for **sherlockrarepairs** 's Holiday Bingo.

“Oh, bloody hell,” Molly said under her breath as she walked into the office. Not a damn thing had been set up for the holiday celebrations the clinic was doing for the community. It was a combination of Christmas celebrations and a health fair of sorts. There would be doctors from other local clinics and hospitals there to administer flu shots, do pediatric check-ups and other wellness checks, and also local organizations that offered social services would be able to have space so that people who needed them could get them. Whether any of the new patients stayed at St Bart's or not didn’t matter; the one thing she had learned about New Orleans was there was a lot of people in need, and if she could help them get even the most basic services, it was something.

“We should have done it ourselves,” Leonard said from behind her.

“Do you think we can get some help and whip this place into shape?” she asked, turning to him.

Leonard scratched his chin. “There aren’t many of us we can grab on short notice, but we can probably clear out the apartment complex of everyone who’s free. Clara could maybe swing by since the school district is off right now.”

“Clara is the type who’s good at being bossy,” Molly said with a smile. “And having Joseph here would be good. I mean...”

“You just want to see your godson,” he said with a grin.

“He’s at the stage where he’s an adorable toddler,” she said.

“You go call Clara, I’ll start reaching out to the others,” he said as he set his medical bag on the counter. Molly went into her office and called Clara, getting an immediate answer and an affirmation that she’d come over with her son right away, and then she called a few of the teen volunteers at the clinic to see if they could come earlier.

Within an hour the parking lot was being set up with booths, holiday themes carnival games and one of the community centers surprised her by bringing a Christmas tree and decorations for the outside. The medical staff added a few decorations made from medical supplies, but by ten AM, she started to think things would be alright after all.

She was wrong.

There was supposed to be two Santas on hand. New Orleans had the tradition of Black Santa and she had been lucky enough that one of those Santas had been willing to donate some of his time to the event, time that became a lot longer when they realized the _other_ Santa had bailed. She had opted to stay at the clinic the entire day for the entire event, but Leonard had gone back at five to get some sleep and cover the emergency line for the evening.

And now, she was going to have to call him back and ask him to dress up as Santa. He was going to _love_ that. This was not his favourite time of the year, as he had made abundantly clear, but he’d tolerated it so far. This?

This was going to lead to grumbling all damn night, she knew it.

She got her mobile out and dialed his number from memory. He answered on the third ring. “Everything all right, darlin’?”

“No, not in the slightest. Mr. Fredrickson has to leave and the other Santa hasn’t arrived. I need you.”

“Need me to be Santa?”

“Yes.”

There was a long pause. “I hate you.”

“No, you don’t. You love me and you love the clinic and you know how important the clinic is to me and pretty pretty please, Leonard?”

There was a discontented sigh on the other end. “Fine. But you owe me.”

“Food or alcohol?”

“Both. Give me the high-quality whiskey under the tree early.”

“Bring it and we’ll share it when this is all over. You are a godsend, Leonard, really.”

“Yeah, yeah.” He hung up then and within forty minutes he was there. Mr. Fredrickson helped get Leonard into his spare costume so Leonard could take his place for an hour while he got a wellness check and his flu shot. He had been a saint and offered to finish out the evening on account of the other Santa’s no-show, and Molly knew she was going to make sure there was a hefty increase in the tip she had been planning to give him.

“You look festive,” she said, adjusting Leonard’s beard. “Can you sound British?”

“Molly? This is the south. A Santa with a Georgia accent would be more in place than a British Santa.”

“I know,” she said. “I just got a bit homesick for St. Nicholas.”

“Maybe later. Get some booze in me first.”

She leaned over and kissed his cheek. “Thank you.” He left her office and she followed him out, smiling as she watched him interact with the children and pass out the next round of gifts. After that, she went in and did Mr. Fredrickson’s exam herself and wasn’t surprised when he told her that the Santa she had been counting on was a flake and he’d make sure the Santa community knew he’d bailed on an event like this. They chatted a bit about things and she was already hoping to get him back if they did this again. This first year was hard enough.

Eventually, Leonard came back in and changed out of the outfit, stepping in for the last few hours to treat patients and do some paperwork. The event wound down and she found that they were left with a spotless parking lot, ten bins full of donated clothing and toys for some of the local shelters and b a bottle of whiskey in her office to share.

Leonard sat in the chair across from her, opening up the gift that had been wrapped under the tree in their apartment earlier. “Don’t ask how I knew it was whiskey.”

“No, I want to know,” she asked with a smile, leaning back in her chair.

“A little birdy told me,” he said with a wide grin.

“Ugh, you used the portable x-ray from your time,” she said, rolling her eyes. “How many other gifts did you peek at?”

“All of them,” he admitted.

“Next year I will line the wrapping paper with lead, you prat.” He got the bottle unwrapped and then opened it, pouring a good measure into each of their glasses. “How was it being Santa?”

“Okay, I suppose,” he said. “I only made three kids cry. But they were all babies and toddlers so I’m forgiven, I think.”

“You shouldn’t be trusted with small children, should you?”

“Hey, not my fault most people want you to be the pediatrician of the practice,” he pointed out as he picked up his glass and pointed it at her. “I’ve got a good bedside manner.”

“Yes, you do. I couldn’t have picked a better person to have been sent here with.”

“Not like we picked each other at all, darlin’,” he said.

“True. The Seal had a nasty sense of humour.” She picked up her glass. “To getting through our first Christmas health fair.”

“May it be the last one I need to be Santa at,” he said, tapping his glass against hers. She grinned at him and got a grin in return before they had their whiskey. If they could get through the premiere of his second movie and all the hoopla with it and Khan being plastered all over the place, and keep going long enough to get through this, she had the feeling as long as they were working together they could get through anything.


End file.
